income distribution

The author in this article critically examines the most important criticisms of Piketty and debates about his study in mainstream economics and underscores that Piketty’s argument has limitations and we need to develop a study of inequality that takes the perspectives of political economy into account more seriously. Piketty_Capital (Download the full text in PDF format) (This article was originally published in The Journal of Comparative Economic Studies, Vol.11, 2016, pp.151–170)

I feel greatly honoured that I have been asked to deliver the Harold Wolpe memorial lecture for the year 2016. Harold Wolpe was an outstanding thinker who combined political activism for the liberation of the South African people with deep insights into the economic basis of apartheid. I am indeed grateful for this opportunity to pay my tribute to this remarkable person who in my view constitutes a role model for anyone aspiring to be a social scientist. Since a good deal of Harold Wolpe’s theoretical work was concerned with the value of labour power, and hence by implication with…

The term “infrastructure” covers all sorts of things, from ports to roads to canals to bridges to building railway lines. Because it covers such a range of things, many of which appear to be useful, most people look upon “infrastructure” development as an indubitably desirable thing under all circumstances. Questions are scarcely asked about its worthwhileness when the government allocates larger resources for the “infrastructure” sector, or when it instructs public sector banks to give larger loans for “infrastructure” development. This way of looking at “infrastructure” however is grossly misleading. What is covered by the term “infrastructure” typically varies with…

This paper shows that inequality is still quite stark in Mexico and the reforms introduced in the mid 1980s have not been able to boost the long term growth of the economy. Minimum_Wage_Policy (Download the full text in PDF format)

The main reason behind the prevalence of stark inequality in Mexico is the lack of political will by relevant actors to change the situation. Mexico (Download the full text in PDF format) (This article was originally posted in the World Economics Association Newsletter, Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2014.)

The dominant view, both on the mainstream right and on the left, which holds that the Eurozone crisis is a crisis of labour-cost competitiveness, is wrong and unhelpful. Hunger_Games (Download the full text in PDF format)

The GNDI, which includes both primary and secondary incomes, is a much better indicator of the standard of living than the GNI and should replace GNI in several fields. National_Disposable_Income (Download the full text in PDF format)

Despite robust growth, rising inequalities and financial instability have affected many countries. This is a result of skewed distribution of economic output between labour and capital favouring the latter. Consumptions of households have been falling with rising savings by the rich. This tension between declining consumption and rising savings is ‘resolved’ by the financial system through the recycling of funds from the rich minority to the average household in the form of credit. At the global level, the tension is ‘resolved’ through recycling ‘excess savings’ from China to the US, adding to the debt and asset bubble in the US.…

The United States has an archaic piece of legislation, passed in 1917, which puts a ceiling on the magnitude of the debt of its federal government in absolute dollar terms. (Since the various State governments in the U.S. are not allowed to run fiscal deficits and hence incur debt, the federal debt is synonymous with government debt). Fixing a debt ceiling in absolute dollar terms is extraordinarily silly for two obvious reasons: first, as the federal government incurs fresh fiscal deficits every year which add to its debt, this ceiling fixed in absolute terms is naturally bound to get exceeded.…

This working paper provides an overview of global, regional and national income inequalities based on the latest distribution data; discusses the negative implications of rising income inequality; and describes the likelihood of inequalities being exacerbated during the global economic crisis. It calls for placing equity at the center of development in the context of the UN development agenda and advocates urgent policy changes at national and international levels to ensure a “Recovery for All”. It also provides a summary of the most up-to-date income distribution and inequality data for 141 countries. global_inequality (Download the full text in PDF format)